Philippians 3:8

What is the most important thing in your life?
What do you worry about the most?
What do you spend the most time doing?
What truly matters to you?
What effects your life a week from now?  A year?  10 years?  At the end?

Give a bit of time and thought to this verse that I opened up to this morning from 

Philippians 3:8 

"Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value 

of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord"

       

     Have you noticed that a lot of our worries have nothing to do with God?  A lot of what we do, has nothing to do with God?  If supper is 10 minutes late, or we don't have any vegetables, will anyone even remember tomorrow?  If your hair isn't perfect, are you going to loose your job?  If you are get pneumonia and miss 3 weeks of work, will it be any more than a memory a year from now?

       What does matter, what does effect our lives and the next generations behind us is God.  Our relationship with Him colors our entire lives.  It changes how we treat others, it shapes our personality and attitudes, and therefore, it also shapes how we raise and treat our kids and therefore how they raise and treat their kids and goes on and on and on!  The most important effect for us and the legacy we pass to our following generations is eternity.  The verse says 'the infinite value of knowing Christ' - infinite-.  That word, infinite, is not just that our relationship with Christ effects every part of our life and legacy, it is also where we spend eternity.  It is the difference between heaven and hell.  Tell me, what is more important - the kind of car you drive for the next 3 years, or 

where you spend eternity?

         There is nothing more valuable than knowing Christ in our hearts and acting upon his teaching.  The more of the bible you read, the more time you spend with the Lord, the more you consult him for advice rather than the world, the more you practice his teaching, and follow his leading --- the better your life will be, the better relationships you will have, the better fruit you will produce, the better legacy you will leave, the better eternity you will have.

Philippians 3:14

"Press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."

Christmas Eve

Satan wants us to believe that we are alone.  He wants us to think that Christianity is dying out.  In past experience, at a variety of churches, the services on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning are typically not well attended.  Everyone is busy. 

We attend a very large church (huge for the size of our community).  If you are 5 minutes early (or even 5 minutes late) you can usually find a seat on Sunday morning.  It is full, but there are seats available.  We arrived to Christmas Eve services this year only 5 minutes before the service was due to start…  No seats… We checked the balcony… No seats… We finally found a spot for our family of 6 way up in the front of the church (we could only see that those seats were free when we were looking in the balcony).  Keep in mind there were still people arriving.  It was amazing.  That church was packed to standing room only on a night that most do not bother with church.  Despite what society would have us believe.  People do still know the meaning of Christmas, people do still take time out of a busy schedule to worship.  People do love the Lord. 

The amount of people was not the only thing that struck me.  The service was beautiful!  Pastor Jack wonderfully wove the birth of Christ in with the message of salvation.  Pointing out that this tiny baby was destined (his purpose for coming at all) to carry our sin to the cross.  The service was full of the touch of the Holy Spirit.  Music and message, a truly uplifting and REAL experience!  Everyone alive in Christ, together!

Quick thought on Romans 14:4

Romans 14:4
"Who are you to condemn someone else's servants?  Their master will judge whether they stand or fall.  And with the Lord's help they will stand and receive his approval."

What does this verse say to you?  To me it says we should pray for people rather than thinking they are doing something wrong.  The bible is stuffed full with verses about minding our own business and not passing judgement on other people.  This verse goes a step further.  It says we should not only judge others, but treat them kindly and pray for them.  Everyone is God's work.  Everyone needs God's help.  We can not 'fix' anyone, not even ourselves - only God can do that.

 Did you notice while reading through the gospels that not even Jesus judged others?  (He did however frequently point out to the religious leaders what they were doing wrong with their service to His Father, constructive criticism if they would have listened.)  Jesus went to those people others had judged and condemned as sinners, and he helped those people to become devoted children of God.  What more can we want?  We should never assume that God is done working in someone's life, because we never want him to be finished working in our lives.   Don't persecute - just pray.

The Sword of the Spirit

Are you down hearted?

Are you depressed?

Are you overwhelmed with your to do list?

Are you under a lot of stress?

Do you wish your life was different?

Turn to the one stop cure,

The stress blocker,

The peace promoter,

It is not a pill,

Not a drink,

Not a program.

It is the bible,

It is the word of God.

Open it up, and dive in to detoxify your life

and leach out the poisons of the world!

A Thanksgiving Thought

Here is a little something for you to think about this Thanksgiving.  We have all heard that we should be thankful for our trials and problems.  But when you are faced with an astronomical issue in your life it can be easy to reject.  It is hard to see anything good, anything worthwhile in the worst times of our lives.  I want you to think about Squanto.

Squanto has an astounding story.  Squanto is certainly an example of someone who endured misery.  He was kidnapped, enslaved, taken far from everything he knew, far from his home and family.  When he did manage to return to his family and tribe, they were gone.  Completely wiped out by diseases brought by the very people who had kidnapped him.  Squanto had endured misery.  But to what end?  Squanto spoke English.  Squanto brought life back to a dying settlement.  He brought education of how to survive, he brought food, to a group of people that were starving and slowly dying out.  He saved the pilgrims – one of the first settlements of our nation.  Squanto will never be ‘just some indian’, he represents blessing from evil, forgiveness, and compassion.  He is historic proof that we can never guess God’s plan in our lives. 

God used this one native, put him through true life horrors, and enabled him to save a nation.  He enabled Squanto to give life to this community that trusted in God, he enabled them to have a bountiful harvest, he enabled them to truly feel what true thanksgiving is.  Can you imagine how much they must have thanked God for sending someone to them who spoke their own language and could teach them how to survive in this new and strange land?  Can you imagine the amount of forgiveness it took for Squanto to help them?  Can you stretch your mind to comprehend how God worked in the lives of Squanto and the pilgrims?  Can you stretch your mind to comprehend how God works in your life?

GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR HE IS GOOD!

Romans 5:3-5  We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.  And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.  And this hope will not lead to disappointment.  For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

A Dose of Faith

It’s amazing what a little dose of God can do.

Our God is not little, he is awesome, huge, wonderful, amazing, and bigger than life!

What I mean by ‘little’ is a little dose.  God does such amazing things in our lives.  Even the small doses make such an amazing difference in our day!

I have been having a bad time in school with a particular class.  I am angry, depressed, frustrated, disgusted, (the list can go on and on) when I leave this classroom.  Whether I am giving instruction, or they are working on an assignment, or collaborating there is noise and disruption.  No matter how many talks, kind lectures, angry lectures, and detentions… nothing works.  I don’t like myself in this class, I don’t like who I am when I leave the class.  I don’t like the depression that overtakes when I think of the class…

Then I realized…

I wasn’t taking God to class with me, I was trying to do it on my own.  I never prayed before or during this class.  I didn’t ask God how to handle this class.  I didn’t go to the bible for instruction on how to teach this group…  I am not big enough.  But even the smallest dose of blessing, the smallest dose of God’s peace that prayer brings, the smallest direction from the bible… makes a massive difference!

I prayed, I asked God.  God helped me maintain myself, my own spirit and personality, he helped me be strong and not let that 45 minutes take away my sanity.  He gave me a new way to handle situations in class.  He gave me strength and support.  The class was not miraculously better, I have to learn the lesson God wants me to learn through this class.  He wants this trial to grow me.  But the victory I saw in the first day… I left class as myself, not someone I hated, and not depressed or stressed or frustrated.  I left the class victorious.  I left the class hand in hand with Jesus.

Pray, go to God, it is amazing!

A closer look at Isaiah 40:31

Isaiah 40:31

Isaiah 40:31 is one of my favorite verses.  It speaks to me.  I didn’t find it on a T-shirt or mug, I found it about 10 years ago, in my bible.  I even had the reference along with a small pair of wings tattooed between my shoulder blades (again before I saw the wings on everyone).  It was a few years after I attached to it that I began seeing it everywhere.  Apparently it speaks to a lot of people.  If you are not familiar with it – it is written write above this blog, on a banner across the top of the page.   It is about the rewards of putting your trust in the Lord.

Anyway, what does it mean?

In the first line of this verse, God promises to give us strength if we trust in him.  We need strength for our daily lives, strength to keep our faith and trust. 

He promises we will soar on wings like eagles.  Imagine soaring the clouds, looking down far below.  The eagle flies peaceful and serene.  An eagle may feel separated.  Trust in the Lord and we can look at our problems from a new perspective, with the separation and peace and serenity that comes from trusting the Lord.  Everything has a different look to it when you step back and relax, when we soar above.

God promises that we can run or walk and not get tired or faint.  We can go through our lives at a fast run or determined walk, no matter the pace of our lives, we will not be worn down if we trust in the Lord.

Our faith will remain strong, our peace secure, our life secure in God’s loving arms.  Trusting in God means trusting His plan.  Trusting His plan means peace!  God gives us the peace and serenity to soar gracefully, absorbing his light and reflecting it to others.

Isaiah 40:31